Poll:
Do you agree with the move to fire Scott?
NEW ORLEANS - Nine games proved to be plenty for the New Orleans Hornets' top brass.
After a 3-6 start, including several embarrassing double-digit losses, Byron Scott has been let go as head coach of the Hornets.
General Manager Jeff Bower has been named as the head coach and he’ll bring along former Hornets head coach Tim Floyd as his top assistant.
“We considered every option to what would help this team win quickest,” Hornets President Hugh Weber said. “We’re not in a building mode. And I said this last summer. This isn’t about building, it’s about recommitting. We know and have confidence in our plans. The way the problem was defined we don’t agree with.
“This was not an issue of trust or effort. It was an issue of execution.”
Scott was in the final year of a two-year contract extension he signed following the 2007-08 season, when he earned NBA Coach of the Year honors.
The Hornets just finished a three-game West Coast road swing in which they lost to the Lakers by 16 points and the Suns by 20. New Orleans also lost to Toronto by 17 points at home two nights before the road trip.
In steps Bower, whose only previous experience on a bench has been as an assistant with the Hornets in 1998-99 and 2003-04. He also was an assistant coach at Penn State and Marist from 1983-95. He took over as general manager in 2005-06, Scott’s second year at the helm with the franchise.
“I accept responsibility for the results up to this point and from this point forward,” Bower said. “We collectively set out a plan and right now we’re not satisfied with how the plan has been executed. It’s my job to change that.”
Both Bower and Weber agreed that players are in place to make the Hornets successful immediately, though they know there will be a transition period.
“But the reason we chose Jeff is we wanted to make that window as small as possible,” Weber said.
Said All-Star forward David West, “The good thing is that we’re 3-6, so getting back to .500 or going in the right direction isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I just think that with Jeff coming in and bringing in Tim, for the guys who have only played for Coach Scott, there will be a dramatic change, a dramatic difference.
Floyd will bring head coaching experience to Bower's side. Bower was an assistant under Floyd when the Hornets finished 41-41 and took Miami to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Floyd also has been a head coach with the Chicago Bulls, Southern California, Iowa State, UNO and Idaho.
Scott finished his tenure with the Hornets at 203-216, not including an 8-9 record in the playoffs. He guided the Hornets to a franchise-best 56-26 year in 2007-08, when New Orleans earned a No. 2 seed and came within one game of the Western Conference finals.
But the Hornets began falling apart near the end of the 2008-09 season, faltering under the weight of expectations and injuries. Denver ousted New Orleans 4-1 in the first round the playoffs, including a 58-point loss in Game 4, the home finale.
George Shinn said prior to the beginning of the season that he was unsatisfied with the development of the team and its younger players. He said he expected changes and wouldn’t accept the team to play as it did to finish 2008-09.
“We weren’t comfortable with what we were seeing and the amount of progress that was taking place,” Bower said.
